🥋 Sundays with Cain – Episode 28 - A ROLL & RUMBLE Fight Co. Exclusive

Interview by “D-Man,” CTF Inmate Correspondent

Christmas Is Near: How Christmas Evolves

I feel like most people try to make Christmas better than when they were young. For a holiday that represents joy, Christmas can also bring its own pain. Growing up poor, this day of giving is complex, to say the least.

Love and food seem to be what really matter. Those also seem to be the things remembered the most. In the moment, it feels like it’s about the gifts. Looking back reminds us that Christmas is really about spending time with those we love, carrying on traditions, and appreciating what we do have.

This is almost impossible to do from inside prison. You can see a lot of sadness behind these walls this time of year. I’m going to try to avoid most of that and bring you a smile. Let’s talk to Cain about Christmas and bring a little cheer in here.

Tell me about your favorite Christmas memory.

Cain: “First, let me tell you about my history with Christmas. Very often — not all the time, but very often — Christmas was the hardest time of the year. We were one of those families, like many out there, where there wasn’t much to give. Many times, there were no presents at all. There was, however, always family and food.”

What about now?

Cain: “Michelle helped me a lot with my trauma from my past. Even though we had money, I was able to make my kids’ holidays amazing. Those feelings of reliving Christmas from my past would still be there. The lack of material stuff was over, but the feelings that caused it stuck around.

I didn’t have a Christmas spirit for a long time. Michelle was there, helping me see the magic of being together and giving. But it took a long time.”

So, your favorite memories?

Cain: “Tamales at Christmas were the thing I remember most. Seeing my aunt and my mom in the kitchen cooking tamales. I didn’t even like tamales back then, but I can appreciate them now — even more this time of year.

Now that my mom is gone, when I take a bite of a tamale, it takes me back. My memories of her rush back when I eat one. I look into the past with the flavor and smell.

Menudo is another thing she would cook. Again, I didn’t like it when I was young. It’s funny how it changes. Now I search for those things to feel close to her through the foods she loved to cook.

Oh, and pineapple upside-down cake. Didn’t like it. Now I miss it so much. That’s what I want at Christmas: tamales, menudo, and pineapple upside-down cake. There are connections to my mother that will always be there in my mind’s eye.”

Thank you for sharing something about your mom. I know you miss her.

Let’s play another game. I’m going to say a name. You tell me what you would build that person, or where you would take them for Christmas.

Cain: “OK.”

Cain Jr. (son):

“I would take him to Ohio. He watches all these YouTube videos about knockoffs. They’re called ‘sussies’ toys — highly suspect, fake plushies. I think it’s an online joke, but he wants to go to Ohio and see for himself. He loves plushies.”

Coral (daughter):

“She loves the Mexico soccer team. I would take her to the World Cup next year for one of Team Mexico’s games. We would wear matching jerseys.”

Michelle:

“I would stay at home with the kids and send her off on a vacation of her choice. She deserves a break.”

Adela (sister):

“I would take her and myself to our mom’s grave, where we could sit, reminisce, and talk.”

Javier (coach):

“I’d take him to Michoacán, Mexico, where he was born. I would like to visit his family and just spend time with him.”

Tom (coach):

“I would build him a store in downtown Phoenix where he could sell his wife’s granola bars, ‘Best Bar.’”

DC:

“I would love to go and do interviews for him while he announces the NCAA wrestling nationals.”

Bryan Stith:

“I would take him to a San Francisco 49ers game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara — so all the fans could talk shit to him.”

From Cain and all the men here at CTF, we wish you a Merry Christmas.

If you have a loved one who is incarcerated right now, send them a letter from home. Put a picture in it. These little gestures of kindness go a long way in our lives, especially during the holidays.

Back to Cain’s Story

Following the ins and outs of Cain’s life, we pick up where we left off last week and bring you a part of his story never told before.

So let’s go back.

You lose your belt to Werdum in Mexico. We spoke about how bad that one hurt on a personal level. You’re scheduled to rematch Werdum in January 2016 at UFC 196, but that fight doesn’t happen.

You’ve been having back pain since your second fight with JDS. Now it’s to the point that you get a medical procedure to remove bone spurs from your spine. Can you talk a little about that?

Cain: “I felt like it was out of my control. I learned my lesson from trying to fight with an injury. At this point, my body is so much more fragile than it used to be. All the wear and tear and demand I put on my body — it was finally catching up.”

Remember that the window for fighting at this level isn’t open for long. Were you thinking about what comes next after fighting?

Cain: “I had been asked about getting into commentary. I wasn’t ready at that time. I loved the gym, and I loved training. I had done it for so long. That’s where I wanted to be.”

How do you feel after they remove the bone spur?

Cain: “My back felt a lot better. The doctors told me it was only a temporary fix — it would help for a year or so.

This is when I started taking CBD/THC oil. I had so many injuries in my past, and with each surgery I had taken painkillers. I knew that wasn’t what I wanted to manage my back pain. So I got a medical card and started using the oils. This was my introduction to plant medicine.

It made a world of difference. It allowed me to get into the gym and train three days a week without pain. I could fight on.”

You get back into the gym and end up on the card at UFC 200, set to face Travis Browne. He’s 6 feet 7 inches tall. What’s the game plan?

Cain: “It’s the same plan we used for Big Foot. Don’t spend much time in punching distance. Either close the distance and fight in my range, or be out of range altogether.”

Did you spar with anyone in particular to prepare for someone so tall?

Cain: “Yes. "Chopper" Chi Lewis-Parry came to AKA from England. He’s a kickboxer and very tall. He wanted to come work with me and DC, and he really helped in the lead-up to this fight.

He has really good takedown defense. I talked to him a year or so ago. He’s on a journey of healing now as well. We ended up talking about plant medicine, and our views line up on what it can do for someone.

He does movies now. I saw him in Gladiator looking badass.”

Let’s get to the fight. Big John McCarthy is your ref. It’s at the T-Mobile Arena in Vegas. You look great. People who watch this fight have one question: Where did the wheel kick come from?

Cain (laughs): “Jav was working on it with me. When I first started throwing it in the gym, my hand and head had to touch the mat for my foot to reach someone’s head. It started like a Capoeira kick.

Through repetition, I was eventually able to stand straighter and straighter as I threw it. With Jav training me, I began to load my leg close to my body, throwing it without telegraphing the kick. 

Jav showed me how, as I spun my body, my head came around first. I would locate my target with my eyes, then my leg would find its mark — already loaded in. Not like a helicopter with a wide arc, but hidden and unexpected.

Once I hit DC with it in practice, we knew I could use it in a match.”

You caught Travis with one and took control. You even missed another later — you must have been feeling comfortable throwing it.

Cain: “I worked on it a lot.”

Did sparring with a kickboxer like Chopper help?

Cain: “I didn’t notice, but yeah, maybe. He was really good and fought for Glory, so it probably helped.”

After the fight, Big John stops it with seconds left in the first round. You come over, check on Travis, then do something we’ve never seen: you lean in and kiss him on the top of the head. What was that about?

Cain (laughs): “I had no ill will toward him. Travis was dating Ronda, and I knew them as really good people — they’re married now.

Most of the UFC is a big family. We travel together all over the world, and you never want to feel like you hurt someone, even though it’s a violent fight. I respect him as a person, so I just checked on him and showed my love.”

This seems like a new side of you. Are you getting softer?

Cain: “Before, it was about hurting people — managing my anger. That was changing.

When you look back at my wrestling matches, I wouldn’t shake hands. If a guy put his hand out, I’d strike it. I didn’t want to touch gloves before a fight either. I wanted to fuck you up.

That was changing. I had already found what I was looking for. I felt it with JDS. I had the wars I was searching for.

A lot of fighters say they never got that fight — the one that tests every part of your body, mind, and soul. I had two of them.”

So you win at UFC 200, but you’re losing the fight with your back?

Cain: “I wanted to keep doing it because it’s what I love, but yeah — I was changing. Evolving as a person.”

Another rematch with Werdum is scheduled for December 30, 2016…

BREAKING NEWS EXCLUSIVE!!!!

We’ve talked about this topic for months in preparation for this interview. But I don’t want to lead with questions. I want you to take the lead. Tell us what happened to that fight — and more importantly, what happened to you, the human, Cain Velasquez?

Cain:
“Let’s start with my back going in and out leading up to the fight. I made it public that I was in serious pain. This was also right when I was leading talks about forming a Fighters Union.

I want to be clear: I fucked up. I let those guys down by not doing this the right way.

We were concerned about long-lasting injuries and what our futures would look like after retirement — things like CTE or permanent injuries.

I’m not suggesting the UFC doesn’t care about fighter safety. They do. But what we should have done was go directly to Dana and talk man-to-man. I believe we could have created something to help retired fighters medically.

Instead, I went behind his back, and I want to publicly apologize to Dana for that. I didn’t handle it the right way. You communicate in a healthy relationship, and I failed there.

One week before the fight, I gave a press conference and talked about my pain — knives in my spine. The Nevada Athletic Commission pulled me out because I went public. I was trying to shed light on what fighters go through.

And here’s what only a handful of people know — I’ve never said this publicly before. I secretly paid for my own surgery. I had an L4 and L5 spinal fusion. Titanium rods. A cage. I hid it from everyone, especially the UFC, because I still wanted to fight.

My brother moved in to help Michelle take care of me. My pregnant wife, my 9-year-old daughter, and my brother — who would later pass away from addiction — all caring for me. I felt helpless.

Even our French bulldog, Chanel, took care of me. She was tiny — could’ve been a champion show dog — but instead, she gave it all up for me.” (Cain laughs through emotion)

“I was in bed for months. I couldn’t bend over for ten months. I was healing, biding my time, hoping for a comeback. I just didn’t know when.”

Cain, thank you — for being transparent and trusting ROLL & RUMBLE Fight Co. and me with your story. Most of all, for thinking about your fellow fighters even when it cost you so much, and for having the courage to say where you went wrong.

That’s it for this week. Remember, we all have a story. While this is Cain’s, it’s also a human story we can all relate to in one way or another.

Please share this one. It’s the most personal we’ve gotten with the big guy about something that wasn’t the death of a loved one.

Thank you for reading, and we’ll see you next week as we explore Cain’s trip to Asia and his attempt at a comeback.

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